Dubbed the Woodbridge "massacre", Anastacio Sanchez's murder of three people, and attempted murder of two others during the same transaction, galvanized public outrage against illegal immigrants in Prince William County, Virginia.  Given the relative ease with which Prince William prosecutors have obtained death sentences in the past, and the intensity of anti-immigrant feelin gin the county, the case seemed headed for a death sentence.  Yet there were reasons weighing in favor of life.  Mr. Sanchez was a simple, hard-working man whose life had come apart over the dissolution of his marriage.  None of the victims' families or the survivors wanted the death penalty, and the case became increasingly complex due to a variety of charging errors.  Eventually, after the defense delivered affidavits from the victims' families requesting life imprisonment, Commonwealth’s Attorney Paul Ebert  met with Mr. Sanchez personally and interviewed him about the crime, his motives, and his remorse.  Apparently convinced that life imprisonment without parole was a sufficient punishment, Mr. Ebert extended the plea offer a day after meeting with the defendant.
 
http://www.insidenova.com/isn/news/local/article/man_pleads_guilty_in_07_massacre/38205/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/25/AR2009062502612.html
 
Notable successes en route to this outcome: (1) the appointment of a forensic pathologist, Spanish language expert, ballistics expert, and bilingual mitigation specialist; (2) an order granting pretrial discovery/disclosure of any witness statements and/or notes for witnesses who "might" need their notes to refresh their recollections; (3) discovery ordered of multiple witness audiotaped statements; (4) disclosure of all materials related to prospective "snitch" witnesses; (5) court funding for three trips to Mexico to gather mitigation evidence, and one trip to Puerto Rico, in addition to a variety of trips across the US; and (6) trial court order granting the defense the right to ask Colorado-style Morgan questions during voir dire.
 
Mr. Sanchez was represented by Joseph Flood and Daniel Lopez, and by Dan Morissette of the NoVa Capital Defender Office.